U.S. Admiral Tells Congress the U.S. Is Running out of Bombs to Fight Islamic State

A top general warned Congress that the United States is running out of bombs to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) “because of the number of targets getting hit.”

“US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris has said he needs more munitions to keep up the intensive operations” against ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria, the Daily Mail reported.

Admiral Harris said most of his munitions have gone towards operations against ISIS.

“We are short in ‘here-and-now’ basic munitions like small diameter bombs. Our near-peer competitors continue to modernize their weapons systems and leverage new technologies to close capability gaps between us and them,” Admiral Harris told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a statement Thursday.

Admiral Harris said the U.S. should also invest in “torpedoes and mines as well as developing systems to defeat incoming missiles.”

But this shortage of bombs is nothing new. The Pentagon has warned for almost a year that the intensive bombing of ISIS targets around the world could cause a shortage. The Air Force experienced a similar problem with “depleted munitions stockpiles” in December 2015.